I taught myself to knit in 1996. I accompanied a friend to a yarn store, then a new mom to a 1 yo, and saw all the cute baby sweaters. Muggle that I was I asked if she would knit a sweater for my daughter to which she replied, "Sure, but you could, too." She bought the supplies for a cute dino sweater (which I gave back to her when her son was born). Anyways, I must have thought about it for a bit, but eventually bought a book or two, some yarn (red heart variegated) and needles -- US size 6 straights, Inox, I believe. I knew how to cast on (long tail), knit and purl (or I thought I did) from childhood and proceeded to knit this:
I went to my first Stitches in 1997 (and have gone every year since), joined a knitting guild (to which I still belong -- hello SBKnitters!) and took spinning lessons at the shop the guild met. I joined a spinning guild and in 1998 I joined a weaving guild and taught myself to weave, this is also the year I started taking lessons in bobbin lace. All throughout, I knit, took more classes, bought yarn (lots of yarn), books, patterns, needles, spinning wheels, sock machines, looms, learned inkle and card weaving, ... Prior to all this I was quilting and did some embroidery, and as a child I learned to sew, crochet and tat. But nothing really took off like knitting. And definitely, nothing stuck like knitting.
Here it is 17 years later and while I've done a little weaving, some spinning, a little more sewing (not so much quilting, just garments), and more bobbin lacing, I've done a lot more knitting. I even started designing hand knit patterns. And I don't see an end to it. I can't even imagine my life without it. There isn't a week that goes by that I'm not knitting. I always take knitting when I travel. Always -- it's the first thing I pack!
I know it's WiP Wednesday and while I've got a ton of things on the needles, looms, wheels,...I think the biggest WiP I've got going is me. Knitting brings me joy, a sense of accomplishment when I'm done and inspiration for all the wonderful projects to come. It's made me more patient, it's kept me sane but most of all it's just made me better.
